


if (chance !== inevitability)

by Alecto



Series: Fictober 2019 [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Bisexual Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler, Coffee Shops, Fictober 2019, First Kiss, Fluff, Gratuitous CLAMP Character Cameo, Idiots in Love, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Minor Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kujaku Mai | Mai Valentine, Minor Mazaki Anzu | Tea Gardner/Mutou Yuugi, POV Outsider, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 08:50:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21335518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecto/pseuds/Alecto
Summary: Anzu expected a peaceful and albeit slightly boring summer at her new part-time job. Enter Jounouchi and Kaiba, pursued by feelings?
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: Fictober 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1529003
Comments: 20
Kudos: 104





	if (chance !== inevitability)

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober Day 3 prompt: “Now? Now you listen to me?”
> 
> 全ての偶然は、必然である。  
Subete no gūzen wa, hitsuzen dearu.
> 
> _All chances are inevitable._

Anzu’s current part-time job was leagues above her last gig at Burger World. The cafe sat on one of Domino’s side streets, tucked between an old-fashioned sweets shop and an antique store that never opened. It was called _Serendipity_—although the name was the owner’s second choice. His first choice, _Guzen_, didn’t match the small cafe’s western-inspired decor and sensibilities. 

Other than her boss, Anzu had no coworkers. The owner opened the shop every morning with the right amount of home-baked goods that always sold out by the end of the business day. After Anzu arrived, her boss would vanish behind a locked door in the back of the shop. She wondered if he also lived in the building. On one occasion, she caught a glimpse of a traditional-styled room where a stony-faced salaryman with dark hair and eyes sat by a low chabudai before the door slammed shut. Her only way to contact her boss was to ring the bell hanging off the doorframe or to wait for him to emerge at closing time.

The rent must be dirt cheap because she served maybe a dozen customers during her first week on the job. Then again, the owner, Watanuki-san, struck her as a rich eccentric with too much time and/or too few cares. The lack of customers offset her lack of coworkers and gave her ample opportunity to fine-tune her burgeoning brewing skills or to educate herself on the coffee beans of the world. Serendipity was certainly a coffee lover’s paradise. She couldn’t complain, especially compared to the minor harassment she suffered at Burger World.

Jounouchi, who worked nearby, became her first regular customer. To her eternal annoyance, he’d buy one soda in exchange for sponging off the wifi and monopolizing hours of her time. If she saw more customers, she might kick him out. But with Yuugi touring Egypt with his grandfather and the Ishtars, Honda working, and Bakura attending extra classes in Tokyo, her social circles shrank drastically that muggy summer. Occasionally seeing Jounouchi kept her from becoming too disconnected from her usual life.

Even if she had to listen to him whine about his non-existent love life.

He swirled his straw forlornly, gazing into the dark depths of his coke. “I went out with Mai.”

“What? Like a date?”

“I guess.”

”Eh, congratulations?” Anzu paused, then continued to wipe down the countertop. She didn’t know what else to say. She hadn’t even known Mai was in the country. Last she heard, Mai was gallivanting across China with Vivian Wong. “How’d it go?”

He shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

She threw down her towel and stared at him. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“I’m as surprised as you! I dunno,” sighed Jounouchi. 

She couldn’t entirely bury her curiosity though. Dropping her towel, she leaned against the bar, ready to lend her friend a somewhat sympathetic ear. “So where’d you go? What’d you do?”

Jounouchi pulled his straw and started squeezing the plastic between his fingers. “Saw a movie. Went to eat. The usual date stuff.”

Again with the mumbly monosyllabic words!

“You sound bored,” she huffed.

His plastic straw was mangled; he wouldn’t be drinking through it again. “It was nice, I guess? She seemed to enjoy herself. I dunno. I thought it’d feel different. Like there’d be more sparks!”

She opened her mouth to scold him but stopped short. Jounouchi already seemed disappointed beyond words. Instead, she lamely said, “Maybe the chemistry isn't there.”

“Yeah...” Then he perked up, gazing at her with curious eyes. “What about you and Yuugi? How are you two doing while he’s out of the country?” 

Her hands twitched dangerously. She fought the heat creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. “It’s none of your business, but we’re good.”

He hummed and arched a single eyebrow. “Good?” he mocked good-humoredly. 

“Fine,” she snapped. “Yuugi calls me almost every day. Sometimes we talk for a few minutes. Other times for an hour. I look forward to hearing from him. I can’t wait to see him when he gets back.”

“So... better than good?”

She nodded stiffly. “So don’t settle for okay. Find someone who, I don’t know, excites you. Makes you feel alive.”

He fell quiet as a thoughtful expression settled over his face. She picked up her towel and went to wash some cups. She hoped that was the last of it.

-x-x-x-

A week into the job, Kaiba Seto swept through the doorway with an arrogant stride and his usual gravitas. He’d carefully watched her prepare his coffee, eyes glinting with suspicion. Her hours of practice paid off though. He returned day after day, incorporating her siphon-brewed coffee into his daily routine. 

Normally, Jounouchi and Kaiba would never have run into each other. Kaiba came every day in the early afternoon, right in the middle of Jounouchi’s shift. Jounouchi always stopped by in the morning before said shift. 

Thus the world knew peace. Until Jounouchi switched to second shift hours, bumping back his pre-work visits to coincide with Kaiba’s. 

A fistfight nearly broke out that first time they bumped into each other at Serendipity. Anzu stepped between them, wielding the mop she’d been using to force them to back off.

“If you boys can’t play nice, you can both leave,” she announced. 

Kaiba’s icy glower bounced between her and Jounouchi. “You can’t be serious.” 

With his head held high, Jounouchi turned his back and took his usual seat at the counter. Kaiba’s bark proved weaker than his bite because he ultimately retreated to the table furthest away from Jounouchi. Jounouchi hung around for far longer than usual and left with only minutes to race to work. All in the name of rubbing his presence in Kaiba’s face.

Within a week, their cold war thawed into petty sniping and posturing. During any conversation with her, Jounouchi lobbed snarky comments over the invisible border that divided the cafe between. At first, Kaiba ignored him from his far corner, silently nursing his African blend of choice. When he replied, his words were rarely kind. But curiously, Jounouchi didn’t take any serious offense.

Unfortunately, Jounouchi knew no shame so infrequent reports about his lackluster dating life continued. 

“Mai and I decided to stay friends.” 

While Jounouchi didn’t shout, his voice carried. Serendipity made the conscious choice to not play music in the background—although Anzu sometimes fired up her playlist when alone. Even if Kaiba wasn’t actively eavesdropping, he’d have to be deaf to not overhear Jounouchi’s announcement. The biggest surprise was his lack of snide remarks. He kept his eyes fixed on the cup before him. She supposed the almighty Kaiba Seto was above teenage romantic drama.

She directed her attention back to Jounouchi. “You don’t seem heartbroken.” 

Which probably meant it was the right decision.

He smiled. “We talked. It wasn’t clicking for either of us. So why force it, right?”

She nodded dumbly. Jounouchi was infatuated with Mai for so long. She hadn’t expected him to give up so quickly, even if it was better for both of them in the long run. 

Before Jounouchi left, he stopped by Kaiba’s table. The two engaged in the briefest conversation. Well, mostly Jounouchi talked and Kaiba tried to set him on fire with his death glare.

“Later, Kaiba,” Jounouchi beamed. He practically skipped out the door afterward.

-x-x-x-

Anzu wondered what had changed. Before long, Jounouchi spoke to Kaiba immediately after arriving and before leaving. Maybe after the swift death of his short-lived love affair, Jounouchi decided his efforts were better invested in befriending Kaiba. She kept to the sideline though. Kaiba was a brisk but pleasant enough customer. Trying to anything more was probably a futile endeavor, but the Yuugi-ness of the action made her heart ache.

Just two more weeks before Yuugi returned home from abroad.

She suspected Kaiba may actually be open to Jounouchi’s overture at friendship. She swore she even heard him laugh yesterday—an inelegant and snorting noise that sounded nothing like his usual duel arena cackling. Even if he was as stubborn as a mule, he didn’t have to frequent the cafe at these times if he didn’t want to share the same air as Jounouchi. But what did Anzu know about that strange no man’s land where Kaiba Seto’s pride ran up against his limited desire for companionship?

Jounouchi had no problems dodging the landmines and navigating the treacherous trenches. For the cafe’s sake, she hoped it wouldn’t blow up in his face.

Within days, Jounouchi spent more time sitting at Kaiba’s table than at the counter with Anzu. Fighting her disappointment, she decided it was a good time to catch up on her reading. She had a series of English novels she wanted to work through. While Jounouchi pestered Kaiba, she stayed behind the counter with her book flattened over its spine and an English-Japanese dictionary at the ready. 

Not a terrible way to spend the summer.

A crash jolted out of her reading. Her service industry training prompted her to search for the source of the noise, a shattered ceramic mug, first before checking on her customers. Her eyes swept up and caught only the tail end of the kiss with Kaiba springing back and knocking over his chair. 

She gasped. Did reading _Fifty Shades Darker_ finally break her brain?

But no one could deny the rising tide of crimson sweeping across Kaiba’s high cheekbones or his wide-eyed stare of an animal about to become roadkill. 

Jounouchi rose to his feet. “Kaiba—“

Kaiba’s fist cut him short and left Jounouchi with a reddening bruise across his jaw to match Kaiba’s flush. Without another word, Kaiba turned and fled the cafe.

The sound of the front door slamming shut kicked her brain back into gear. She crossed the cafe in a dozen steps, choosing to ignore the puddle of spilled coffee creeping across the hardwood floor. “Jounouchi Katsuya! What did you do?”

The muscles in his neck flexed as he rubbed his sore jaw. “Whaddit look like? I kissed him.”

“But why?”

“You told me to find someone who excites me.” He threw her an accusatory glare.

Her temples throbbed. “Now?” she screeched. “Now you listen to me?”

Idiot! She would lose her best customer because her friend was an idiot! She’d get fired, and then she’d have to go back to Burger World. No! Never again would she work at Burger World! She’d strangle Jounouchi first.

He scratched the back of his neck, eyes flickering to an unseen point over her shoulder. “I keep coming back every day to talk to him. Yeah, he’s kinda a jerk about it sometimes, but it’s fun too. Did you hear him yesterday? He laughed at my dumb joke. I wondered what it’d be like to kiss him. So I did? I guess that means I like him, right?”

Something about the hesitancy in his voice and in the way his limbs moved banked the fires of her anger. Jounouchi was well-intentioned, she told herself. Usually. But matters of emotional delicacy were definitely not his forte. 

She pinched the bridge of her nose, letting the stinging pain focus her. “Did you ask for permission first?”

His silence said it all.

“Jounouchi, you idiot! You can’t just kiss someone without asking first. You wouldn’t do that to a girl, would you? No! It’s rude! Just because Kaiba’s a boy doesn’t mean you can be an ass!” she exclaimed. “Now go apologize!”

She wasn’t sure what part of her lecture lit a fire under his ass. But Jounouchi was there one moment and gone the next. 

Huffing angrily, she retrieved supplies to clean the mess they left behind. Ingrates!

When she bent down to sweep up the broken mug pieces, she came face to face with a sturdy metal briefcase. She found Kaiba’s top-of-the-line smartphone abandoned on the table. How flustered had Kaiba been to leave all his things behind? 

She collected the items and placed them in her makeshift lost-and-found behind the counter. If he didn’t come back, she’d make Jounouchi return the stuff.

-x-x-x-

Kaiba returned minutes before closing and barged in right as Anzu was about to lock the front door. 

“My belongings,” he said expectantly.

Not cowed by his attitude, she studied him through several body-length glances. She spotted a large wrinkle in his normally neatly pressed dress shirt. He’d done up the top button he usually left undone, pulling his collar high. Not high enough to hide the purpling bruise peeking out though. Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught Jounouchi’s familiar silhouette pacing the sidewalk outside.

She quickly ducked behind the counter, hoping he didn’t see the smirk fighting to overtake her lips. With several deep breaths, she regained her composure before retrieving his phone and briefcase. But as she placed both items on the countertop, she couldn’t resist asking sweetly while openly eyeing his poorly concealed hickey, “So everything’s good?”

Kaiba flushed as pink as sakura blossoms. 

She swallowed back a chorus of giggles.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mazaki,” he said after clearing his throat. “Goodnight.”

Outside, Jounouchi fell quickly into step with Kaiba. Her friend threw her two enthusiastic thumbs-up through the shop window before they disappear into the night together. 

She had no doubt Jounouchi would tell the full story tomorrow. Probably much to Kaiba’s horror while trying to drown himself or Jounouchi in a cup of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. God, she looked forward to that.

Then, as if on cue, the owner stuck his head out from the back. Upon seeing her giddy expression, he responded with a gentle smile. “A good day, Anzu-chan?”

“Better than good,” she replied, lips stretched into a smile wide enough to hurt her cheeks. She couldn’t wait to talk to Yuugi later.


End file.
